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Small Bore Rifle Competition (Stellarton 2023)

And we’re off and running!

MRPC kicked off the 2023 shooting season with a small bore match.

Sunday, April 23rd Metro sent the A – Team up to Stellarton to compete in an invitational .22LR cal small bore rifle match. It was brought to the attention of the membership during the AGM and we hastily assembled a dominating team!

Top Team with all but 2 of our riflemen in the top 10 in F-Class and 3 Position Olympic Rifle in Nova Scotia, in our first competition small bore match since the 1970s. Pretty friggin awesome !

Tops in F -Class for the club was Hawkeye Holland (Mike) followed by Long Shot Long John (McQueen), with Tomie 2 Target’s (Victor), GI Joe (MacHoll), and Paul the hammer Browne nailed it with a middle of the pack placing….. and they never shot a small bore competition before! This of course all due to the phenomenal coaching of our resident rifle Guru Peter Campbell. Thanks Peter!

Following the match we had a private coaching seminar put on by a Nova Scotia legend, Al Roland from Truro. Al has been shooting and coaching small bore competitions since, well darn near since the invention of gunpowder, and has been a Chief Range Officer for the ISSF on matches all over the world. His insights on breathing, heart rate trigger control, and positioning were profound and insightful. Not only did they apply to rifle shooting but I can see how they relate to golf, archery, and pool billard as well. Probably the best coaching session I have ever had!  Al (who won the competition in 3 Position) is coming down this summer to spend some time with those interested. If ya want to run with big dogs his coaching will get you there!  

In summation, it was an awesome match with a great bunch. We shot well, and learned lots for the next matches, all with loads of laughter along the way! Followed up with ‘Mother Webb’s Steakhouse’!  An awesome day was had by all!! 

Regards
Mike Kelly

TO OPEN THE GALLERY CLICK ON A PHOTO
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Terry Eldridge Center Fire Match 2022

We held our Terry Eldridge Center Fire Match today as planned. It was a scorcher of a day but we got through it. I think next year we need to schedule it for when it isn’t quite so hot.

In third place, we had Joe MacHoll. In second place we had Sven Kummer and beating him by one point in a nailbiter of a finish was his brother Lars Kummer.

Lars is this year’s Eldidge Center Fire Match Champion and he gets his name engraved on the annual trophy for generations to come to stand in awe of his shooting prowess. Great job Lars!

We also need to congratulate the rest of the participants for a great, fun and safe match. Special recognition to Shane, Nathan, and Riley for completing their first-ever handgun competition. They did great and seemed to have a fun time which is what we hope for any first-timers. Hope we’ll see you back again now that the intimidation of your first match is over.

Thanks to everyone who helped with RO’ing and setup and tear down. Many hands make light work and it went fast and efficient.

Hopefully doing this match as a mini PPC has piqued some of these people’s interest in shooting the Provincials in Halifax in September and we can send a team up to take home the mainlander’s medals……again!

Andy Maxwell
Club Secretary/Treasurer

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Cheddy Hollingsworth Memorial Pistol Match, 2022

Our  Cheddy Hollingsworth Memorial Match, held on Sunday, July 31st 2022 was a success again with 17 shooters coming out to compete for the Cup.

All members had a great afternoon of friendly competitive shooting. While one relay was shooting we put the other shooters to work scoring targets so everyone was kept busy.

Andre manned the BBQ to keep hunger from making the competitors focus on anything but shooting X’s.
Ken came out and helped Andy out by being our official scorekeeper. A job that eats up a pile of time. Thanks to both of these guys who helped me with keeping things moving along. Many hands make lighter work.

When the smoke from the gunshots cleared Joe MacHoll‘s hand was raised in victory with a score of 491 of a possible 600. A very respectable score and the reason he is ranked #2 in the province for 2022 after just completing the Provincial ISSF Championship and taking Silver a couple of weeks ago in Halifax. Congratulations to Joe!

Joining Joe on the podium in a tight race was Sven Kummer taking Silver with a score of 475 and a fairly new member of our Club, Mike Holland, taking Bronze with a score of 468, only 7 pts behind Sven. Great job guys!

Many thanks to all who came out and helped and to those that came out to shoot. A big THANK YOU to Andy, our Secretary, Treasurer, Chief RSO of the day, and Organizer of this event. He had a great day too and enjoyed being there for all that showed up.

A brief video of the shoot done by one of our shooters, Jonathon MacVicar, can be seen here

Cheddy Hollingsworth Memorial Pistol Match
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NSRA OPEN HANDGUN MATCHES July 16, 2022

History repeats itself!  

The ‘dead shots’, AKA ‘The Metro Rifle & Pistol Team’, headed off to the Provincial Championships held at Bull Meadow Range, and once against emerge victorious!  
 
The MacDonald Challenge, an ISSF Standard Pistol Match held at the Nova Scotia Rifle Association since the 1960’s is the regional championship for Standard Pistol Shooting. The Metro R&P Club has won the match more times in the last quarter century than any other club in Atlantic Canada. This year we won it again. Joe MacHoll and Andy Maxwell started the match on fire, shooting ’bulls’ so often they made it look easy!  Mike Kelly narrowly squeezed past Joe MacHoll in the final Rapid Fire event taking first place leaving Joe with the silver and Andy in the top 5 in Atlantic Canada. 
 
 
The Selig Free Pistol Match, an ISSF- 50m Match is the regional Championship held by the Nova Scotia Rifle Association and Metro won that cup as well. The Selig Free Pistol Match is named after volunteer Bob Selig to commemorate his long-time commitment to the shooting sports in Atlantic Canada.
Again it was Andy, Joe, and Mike neck and neck kicking mainlander ass all the way 😆, and when the final scores were tallied the Metro Rifle & Pistol Club reined supreme. Mike taking gold, Joe taking silver, and Andy missing bronze because of one errant shot.
That Day the Metro Rifle & Pistol Club tasted again from the cup of Victory!
 
At the end of the day, all the shooters present, no matter their individual placing, had a fabulous day. The weather was perfect, Bob’s burgers and dessert were exemplary, and all had loads of laughter and fun!
Impressions (click on a photo to open the gallery)
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Rifle Raffle

We have received a generous donation from John at The Bullet Box Indoor Range and Pro Shop. He has donated a rifle for the Club to Raffle off to help with fund raising for our new range construction costs.

 

The prize was a beautiful CZ 455 Evo .22lr rifle. A limited number of tickets (200) were availible and the winner was drawn live on Facebook at The Bullet Box on May 15. Retail on this rifle is approaching $700.00.

And the winner is: Bill Laurie. Congratulations.

Many thanks to John for his generous donation and for stepping in to help us fill the void from the raffles we usually have at the Outdoor Show every spring that we have been missing the last couple of years.

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Atlantic Canada PPC Competition 2021

  The annual Practical Police Combat Shooting, Atlantic Canadian Championships (PPC) was held Sunday September 26, 2021at the Nova Scotia Rifle Association (NSRA) Facility in Halifax.

 

The PPC Atlantics is the final event of the summer shooting season

Top pistoliers from all disciplines in Atlantic Canada, as well as law enforcement, come vying for the immortalization of having their name engraved on the huge trophy.

 

  As always, The Metro Rifle & Pistol Club (MRPC) sent a team of exceptional talent to keep the mainland Teams in check…:-) and we did! New Brunswick and PEI sent teams and competitors trying to do the same! This year was a particularly tough shoot as there was continuous heavy rain and gusts with winds over 40km/hrs. The match that started as a test of shooting ability soon became a grueling endurance test. As the temperature plummeted in that crucible so did many competitors; but not the Metro Rifle and Pistol Competition Team!  We did not let our club down! The Metro “A team” took it in stride fighting furiously for the top position!  Towards the end of the match, ankle deep in freezing rain, soaked to the core, two teams were at the pinnacle!

  It teetered back and forth between Metro and the NSRA Team during the last event.  With a huge number of local competitors to choose from and the home team advantage NSRA narrowly squeaked by to take the Gold.

The Metro Rifle and Pistol Club are now Proud Silver Medalists
  PEI’s team took the Bronze Medals for third place.  The Bullet Box, a new indoor range in Sydney, NS fielded a Cape Breton team as well placing a close fourth, narrowly missing a Bronze finish.  I expect to see a much better result next year after a year’s training.  Also of Note, another Cape Breton Team, “Sugarloaf” centered in Margaree took fifth place in the team division.  With two of their shooters under 16 I’m expecting a much stronger finish from them in future years. Three of the top five teams in Atlantic Canada are from Cape Breton which speaks immensely to the quality of the shooters on our island.

As expected, on an individual basis Metro shooters dominated as well….

  No surprise there!  First and Second place in the expert classification was taken by Terry Eldridge (1402/1500) and Joe McHoll (1328/1500).  Terry is now a member of the “1400’s” club; a score above this number classifies you as a Master, a ‘Black Belt’ of PPC!  Way to go Terry! How Joe managed to move so quickly through the ranks with only 5 years’ experience speaks to his tenacity and raw talent.  I have a feeling Joe will be attaining the top shot in the match in the not too distant future.  Lars Kummer, no slouch with his CZ,  took a strong 6th position (1277/1500). His brother Sven (1123/1500), after multiple malfunctions placing him back in the rankings farther than perhaps he out to have been, took 9th place. First time competitor Trysten MacPhee (1070/1500) comfortably landed in the top 10 in Atlantic Canada. Good Job!  Ryan Ledrew, the new guy on the MRPC Team, beat out droves of other competitors and almost all of Law Enforcement placing 5th in the Marksman category with a total score of 1192/1500. Great work Ryan!

  Metro President Mike Kelly (1463/1500) was no slouch either, taking the Masters Category by storm and the Trophy back to Cape Breton shattering the previous PPC record (which Mike set in 2020) by 30 points.

  A great weekend was had by all participants and big thanks to Bob Selig that puts on the match every year.  Thank Bob and especially his wife that makes the burgers for the match  the best homemade cookies ever!

  See you all on the range!

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PPC Match 2019

PPC Match 2019

This year we send an ambitious team of MRPC shooters down to Halifax:

  • TerryEldridge
  • Tom Kummer
  • Lars Kummer
  • Sven Kummer
  • Kirk Best
  • Ryan LeDrew
  • Joe MacHoll

As you can see in the picture below the team was in good shape, had a tremendous amount of fun while competing and it wasn’t the last time. For sure.

It was the first time for Kirk (made it to the ‘Top 15’ shooters in Nova Scotia) and Ryan (only 35 points needed to make it to the ‘Top 20’). Tom shot a 45ACP 1911 – imagine what he could have achieved with a decent competition pistol. A solid performance (as always) of Terry – only 18 points behind Tom.

We did well. Here are the results:

Marksman class
Silver for Tom Kummer
Gold for Joe MacHoll

Expert class
Silver for Lars Kummer
Gold for Sven Kummer

Team Score:
MRPC won Silver (second by only 2 points!)

The complete results can be downloaded here.

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2019 Club Matches

MRPC MatchES 2019

2019 Cheddy Hollingsworth Memorial Match results:

 1st Andy Maxwell 489
2nd Tom Kummer 433
3rd Kirk Best 395
4th Terry Eldridge 387
5th Jon MacVicar 383
6th Mel Howley 272
7th Andre Desjardins 221
8th Braydon Hooper 199
9th Paul MacLellan 82
10th Andre Hervey 71
11th Antle Hervey 51  

2019 Terry Eldridge Center Fire Match: 

1st Andy Maxwell 365
2nd Terry Eldridge 350
3rd Tom Kummer 331
4th Blair Williams  306
5th Jon MacVicar 298
6th Kirk Best 288
7th Paul MacLellan 272
8th Braydon Hooper 223
9th Andre Desjardins 204
10th Kyle Slade 122

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2019 Abie Libbus Memorial Match

2019 Abie Libbus Memorial Match

The Metro Rifle and Pistol Club hosted the 3rd annual Abie Libbus Memorial Air Gun Tournament Sunday, June 9th, at the East Bay Firehall. Abie was a local veteran, past Club President and long time local organizer of the shooting sports in Cape Breton.

The format for the match is the same format as used in Olympic competition.  Athletes shoot two regular 60 shot matches in their Air Rifle or Pistol disciplines and their scores are combined to determine ranking. The top 8 Athletes have their score returned to zero, and are called to the line to shoot again in a final against each other.  The finals consist of Athletes firing five shots in a short timeline, then turning to face the crowd while an announcer calls out the results. The stress then becomes apparent as top athletes start showing a noticeable decrease in performance. Athletes fire five shots again and the process is repeated, results are announced. Then 2 shots are fired and the athlete in 8th place is cut from the finals and sits down. The process continues, 2 shots and another athlete is cut until a Gold Medal Tournament winner is determined.  This finals proved to be one of the best to date in Atlantic Canada  as the two top Athletes, Bob Selig (Provincial and National Medalist from Dartmouth N.S.) and  Mike Kelly (2019 Silver Medalist in Atlantic Canadians & in the International Grand Prix In Ontario from East Bay) went shot for shot ending in a tied score. The tie was broken with an additional shoot off with Mike Kelly gaining the upper hand and taking home the Gold Medal.

 

Rene DeHaitre from Ontario (Member of the Canadian National Pistol Team in Russia 2015) won Bronze and also put forward a stellar performance setting the Atlantic Canadian 60 shot record of 553 out of a possible 600 points in his second match.

 

 

However, the real star of this year’s match was junior Lauren Chettle (Provincial Medalist from Marion Bridge), winning both Gold Medals in Women’s Pistol and Women’s Rifle.  That has never before been done in Atlantic Canadian Competitions!  Way to go Lauren!

 

Pistol Finals, left to right: Rene DeHaitre, Bob Selig, Andy Maxwell, Kirk Best, Joe MacHoll, Hubert Mertens, Lauren Chettle, Mike Kelly

A short note in the Cape Breton Post after the match:

©2026 Metro Rifle & Pistol Club